Now key time – strong DNC key to momentum

[Mona, 7/21/2024, Politico, “15 Experts Predict What Biden’s Dropout Means for the 2024 Election”, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/07/21/biden-dropout-expert-predictions-00170164, accessed 7/21/2024, LR]

President Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 contest ratifies the wisdom of Abba Eban’s observation that “Men and nations do act wisely when they have exhausted all the other possibilities.”

Democrats are now lining up to endorse Vice President Harris so as to avoid “chaos” at the Democratic Convention next month. Many still carry the memory of Chicago in 1968, the last time the Democrats held an open convention. It was a disaster, with dueling rioters in the streets — protesters and police. But fear of 1968 is overdone. Arguably, many Americans feel that the Democratic Party withheld important information about Biden’s condition during the primaries. If the party now imposes a nominee without competition, voters may feel disenfranchised again.

An open process will be the hottest ticket in American politics in decades. What an opportunity for the Democrats to strut their stuff and show off their bench. It will give Harris an opportunity to shine if she’s going to rise to the occasion. And if she wins the nod, she will do with the full embrace of a party that had a say.

What some call chaos can also be called competition. Democrats should welcome it.